Islamic Revolution’s Restoration of Women’s Rights

Today on the 8th day of the Ten-Day-Dawn, marking the 39th anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, we present you an interesting feature on the Revival of Women’s Status and Restoration of their Rights, thanks to triumph of the Iranian people’s grassroot movement.

Women make up half of the population of the country. They form the nucleus of the family. It is women who bring up children and help build a sound and healthy society. As a matter of fact, the soundness of a society depends on the virtue of women and their faith. In Iran, following the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the Father of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Khomeini (God bless his soul), restored to women their natural rights that were trampled by the British-installed Pahlavi regime and its imposition of the morally-lose western culture. Imam Khomeini said after the victory of the Islamic Revolution:

“Islam grants woman a say in all affairs, just as it grants man a say. Women from the Islamic point of view enjoy a dignified position; they have free will just as men have. God created them free beings and gave them dignity; He has laid down laws to prevent them from corruption which is for their benefit.”

Among other injustices of the upstart and rootless Pahlaví clique was the violation of women’s rights. Those were the dark days in Iran’s history when virtuous and veiled women were treated as law-breakers, and it was a fashion to insult one’s own feminity by dressing immodestly and indulging in immoral ways -- a far cry from the constructive role designed by the Creator for women. Imam Khomeini’s first sign of protest to this moral indignity was the following statement in Kashf al-Asràr way back in the early 1940s.

“Of course, they regard the civilization and advancement of the country as dependent upon women’s going (half) naked in the streets, or to quote their own idiotic words, turning half the population into workers by unveiling them.”

In accordance with the dynamic shari’ah of Islam and the practical precedent set by the Ahl al-Bayt or Blessed Household of the Prophet, as was shown by his Immaculate Daughter, Fatema Zahra (peace upon her), Imam Khomeini freed Iranian women from the shackles of western-style corruption and created a worldwide impact for a return to innate feminine values. Thanks to his liberating measures in Iran, Muslim women all over the world began to rediscover the freedom and virtues of the Hejab.

As oil-wealth and western experts brought vices and the vilification of women to the Iranian society, the people rose up against the Pahlaví regime, joined by the country’s Muslim women. It was a normal sight in the events leading to the victory of the Islamic Revolution to see thousands of devoted and dedicated women clad in black veils marching along men in the streets to protest the violation of rights by the Pahlaví regime. In February 1978, after the suppression of the demonstrators by the regime’s security forces, we see the Imam delivering a speech from exile in Najaf:

“Could any Muslim agree with this scandalous uncovering of women? The women of Iran have risen up against the Shah themselves and delivered a punch to his mouth with the cry: We don’t want to be forced into immorality. We want to be free.”

After the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, the women of Iran regained their denied rights. The freedom of the Hejab was back in vogue, and they started participating in all spheres of life, with a sense of honour and dignity. Gone were the days when publications of the regime ran columns against chastity and feminine virtues, under direct orders of the United States and in blind aping of the decadent western culture. The Founder of the Islamic Republic, who put the Iranian women back on the pedestal of virtue, delivered the following speech to a group of women who called on him:

“Islam has a particular regard for women. Islam appeared in the Arabian Peninsula at a time when women had lost their dignity, and it raised them up and gave them back their pride. Islam made women equal with men. In fact, it shows a marked concern for women. In our revolutionary movement, women have likewise earned more credit than men, for it was the women who not only displayed courage themselves, but also reared men of courage. Like the Holy Qur’an itself, women have the function of rearing and training true men. If nations were deprived of courageous women to rear true men, they would decline and collapse.”

Thanks to the vital step taken by the Late Imam Khomeini, today Iranian women enjoy all sorts of rights, protected by the freedom of the Hejab. This has annoyed the Godless societies of the West, and frustration they accuse Iran of violating women’s rights. They attack the dignity of the Hejab and resort to preposterous lies by alleging that women are treated as second class citizens in Iran. This is far from the truth, when we see Iranian women active in all spheres of society, with their Hejab intact and their determination to protect feminine dignity through their campaign for materializing the fruits of the Islamic Revolution.